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My original post (a couple years ago) was about saving because of the importance of compounding interest. The reason why I started this project a couple of years ago is because I got sick and hemorrhaging money and blood. I finally feel sufficient to complete it.
I started reading Your Money or Your Life due to the fact that I really want to get my fiscal health under control. Especially as women there seems to be a tendency to bury our head in the sand, and not take responsibility and have awareness for our family’s fiscal health. All too often it takes something catastrophic happens and women are in charge of the family’s fiscal health and have no training or education about it. People do not realize that women will generally outlive their partners at least 75% of the time. So who do you want to teach you about money that you will be in control of, someone who is the partner that you trust or someone who is a stranger? Do you think trying to learn about money in the midst of an illness or grief is the best time to learn about it?
If you learn nothing else from me, I want you to learn to prepare for that catastrophic situation that you might find yourself in like I did. All it took for me was some injuries and a major chronic debilitating illness to completely wipe out my entire savings and put me in significant debt. I had a good job and was well on my way to being financially secure.
I am not sure that I would ever relinquish control of my fiscal future to someone else’s management, not because I lack the trust, but because I now know what it is to be on your own with no backup. Prince Charming and rest of the Marines are not coming are not coming to save my six. I want to learn how to manage my money and my life in a way that agrees with where my life is at right now.
Your Money or Your life is about focusing in on what is truly important in your life. Is what you are doing worth your life energy? For some a key question is it worth time away from the most important people in your life? In my case (given my former career paths) is it worth my life?
There are some key questions that Dominguez and Robin, the authors of Your Money or Your Life, ask at the beginning of the book that I think are pretty interesting:
“Do you have enough money? Are you spending enough time with your family and friends? Do you come home from your job full of life?…Are you satisified with the contribution you have made to the world?…Do you have enough savings to see you through six months of normal living expenses? …Is your life whole? Do all the pieces-your job, your expenditures, your relationships, your values-fit together?”
Plus they made a hugely impactful statement about how money equals life energy:
“Money is something we choose to trade our life energy for. Our energy is our allotment of time here on earth, the hours of precious life available to us. When we go to our jobs we are trading our life energy for money. This truth, while simple, is profound.”
Imagine my suprise when I figured out in step one of the program (Making Peace with the Past) that during the time I worked hazardous waste disposal during my undergrad days that for the time I had invested in it I was really only making about two dollars an hour (minimum wage was only about $4.15 at that time, and I was happy to find a job that paid a quarter more then that). While as students most of us work not so great jobs either for the rent money or for the on the job experience, but I have to admit this was what the authors call a “making a dying” job, and while it did have it’s benefits. But I needed the money to make rent, eat, and it was something that tipped the balence in my favor when I went on in my career path.
As I have just mentioned the first step is “making peace with your past.” This has two parts. The first is finding out “how much you have earned in your life,” and the second part is “what have you got to show for it?” I have to admit I feel pretty bad about this step, and it was very hard to remember the “no shame, no blame” mantra that I have come across in other finicial management books. In part, because at one time my future was the perfect plan, and then I got the rug jerked out from underneath me (by illness), and been living very poorly since then. As soon as I got a little money I went a little crazy. I actually bought a D&B bag (granted it was more then 50% off), but the funny thing is I really wish I could have bought it for my Mom (she would have love it, but she also would have told me not to spend that much money on a bag for her). Another thing is with being poor and getting hit with some losses, I have found it very hard to let things go, and so I have a lot of clutter. So much that when I inherited some stuff I had to rent a storage space. But I found out in assessing ”what I have to show for it” I need to take out a larger renter’s insurance or I need to get rid of stuff. Obviously, I am going to get rid of some stuff.
Granted, I think it might have a little to do with how poorly my quality of life has been for about the last five plus years. Another thing the authors mention is the “fufilliment curve,” and basically what it show is that once you get “the basics of life” taken care of that more income does not necessarily increase the quality of life significantly. Daniel Kahneman, a Noble Prize winner, did an experiment about what activities made women the happiest and they were: “Sex, Socializing, Relaxing, Praying/worshipping/meditating, eating, exercising.”
So a question to ponder is what makes you happiest?
The very first thing that I want to talk about is saving money, the offer has a time limit on it. No more after 31 MAR 08. From Suze Orman book Women and Money there is an offer: “go to TD Ameritrade open a money market deposit account and commit to a deposit of at least $50 a month. TD Ameritrade will provide the incentive in the form of a $100 contribution to your account , to be made after your 12th deposit…” So you save your 50 bucks a month for a year and you get your money, plus interest, plus $100 bucks.
“1. go to www.saveyourself.com by midnight 31 MAR 08.
2. enter save yourself offer code: 701. You will be taken to a page for the full details of this offer.
3.click link to open a new TD Ameritrade (non retirement) account.
4. Arrange for a direct deposit of at least $50 per month into the account for 12 consecutive months. The first 50 must be deposited within 30 days of opening the account.
5.At the end of one year, TD Ameritrade will deposit a $100 cash bonus in your account.
6.Should you need to withdraw the money prior to the 12 month commitment, you may withdrawal all of your deposits, plus the interest earned. However, you will forfeit the $100 bonus.”
This offer is from Suze Orman’s book Women and Money, please see pages 85-87 for full details.
I am on a morphine drip right now, so I hope this makes sense…I will cite appropriately when I can get to my APA book.
